According to Miller Jones, a professor of nutrition and food science at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota...

4th graders are aware of the word diet, especially the girls.

One of the world's largest study of weight loss has shown that diets do not work for the vast majority of slimmers and may even put lives at risk.

This type of yo-yo behavior is linked to many health problems. Because of the strain on the body of repeated weight loss and weight gain, the researchers found that the dieters would have been better off not dieting at all.

Research has shown the repeated rapid weight gain and loss associated with dieting can double the risk of death from heart disease, including heart attacks, and the risk of premature death in general.

For starters...

When you think 'diet' you are actively engaging in short term thinking. When you start to think of it as something you go on and then off again, that's the wrong direction.

Some of the BEST resources on nutrition are not diets. They are eating plans. They are the basics of eating correctly for the rest of your life. Eating for everyday living is something you can be taught. There's nothing short term about them.

"The benefits of dieting are simply too small and the potential harms of dieting are too large for it to be recommended as a safe and effective treatment for obesity." -Dr Traci Mann

A quick test is to simply look at any given plan and immediately ask yourself...

Can I eat this way for the rest of my life and not fall prey to hunger cravings or temptations?

Frankly...

If you are overweight, then thinking in the short term is exactly why you could be doomed to fail! As you bounce from one plan to the next, you become more and more frustrated.

FACT: Many diets that use a severe calorie restriction just makes it harder to lose the weight the next time.

FACT: Some studies show that repeated weight loss and regain actually increase the changes you'll gain even more weight the next time.

FACT: It shouldn't come as a shock that people who exercise report the most long term weight loss.

Now with all this in mind...

No matter what eating plan you choose or what your goals, just drop the word 'diet' from your vocabulary and pick a plan you can stick with for life. That encourages slow weight loss or weight gain. That doesn't "demonize" foods but helps you pick and choose from healthy alternatives and explains the reasons why.

If you are always changing your eating habits for special events or every 8 weeks, you might be dieting. Before you start your next diet, that's the time to step back and ask yourself if you know all you can about proper, healthy nutrition. Learning how to eat correctly is something you can stick with for life and avoid the common frustrations.